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Mean Mikey
"Mean Mikey" 'is the debut single by English singer-songwriter Michael Mikey Brennan. Featuring Mr. Croft who provided additional vocals and keyboard for the song. It was written and produced by Brennan and Croft and was recorded at Bower Grove School on Croft's iPad and edited using Audacity. The song was released on October 5, 2012 on Brennan's YouTube channel.Michael Mikey Brennan - YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/michaelmikeybrennan"Mean Mikey" (Official Music Video) - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9fGmA2kEQY It was later on featured as the third track on Brennan's debut self-titled album, Michael Mikey Brennan (2015).Michael Mikey Brennan - "Mean Mikey" Featuring Mr Croft (2015 Album Version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tURDakZxL5I "Mean Mikey" was the first instalment to Brennan and Croft's song trilogy - The Michael Mikey Brennan and Mr. Croft Trilogy (or The Mikey and Mr. Croft Trilogy for short) - later followed up with songs, "A Dream" (2012) and "Can't You See Me" (2013) which were added to the trilogy. "Mean Mikey" was mainly inspired by The Simpsons 1990 single "Do The Bartman" by Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson).Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson) - "Do The Bartman" (from the album, "The Simpsons Sing the Blues") https://open.spotify.com/track/3QqcE0U4RE3MQbmJfD1tsO It was also inspired by "Too Cool For School" - a song from Horrid Henry: The Movie (2011) performed by Theo Stevenson who played Horrid Henry in the film.Theo Stevenson (Horrid Henry) "Too Cool For School" From Horrid Henry: The Movie (2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kckLV8ExDZs The song features Horrid Henry references including the famous Horrid Henry catchphrase (from the TV series), ''"Nah Nah Ne Nah Nah" at the end of the song. It also features Michael Jackson references such as the catchphrase "Who's Bad?" from "Bad" (1987). The song also samples Michael Jackson's song "Billie Jean" (1983), although originally the idea was for it to sample 'Don't Stop Till' You Get Enough' (1979).Michael Mikey Brennan (@MMikeyBrennan) on Twitter - 18th April, 2018 https://twitter.com/MMikeyBrennan/status/986476425422229504 The song also borrowed lyrics and phrases from other songs - "My'' iPods stuck on replay" from Iyaz''s "Replay" (2009), "''I'm a changed man now, Chris Brown" from Dappy's "No Regrets" (2011) and "Never be anything but a singer-songwriter" from Ed Sheeran's "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" (2011).Songs that inspired 'Mean Mikey' https://open.spotify.com/user/1137498670/playlist/7Fzed892c9VAlzJZRJBMLb Background The song is written and sung in the prospective of a character - Mean Mikey - whose characteristics are influenced by the likes of Horrid Henry Michael Mikey Brennan talks about Horrid Henry's impact on Mean Mikey https://twitter.com/mean_mikey/status/909539108598542336and Bart Simpson,Michael Mikey Brennan talks about Bart Simpson's impact on Mean Mikey https://twitter.com/mean_mikey/status/914511924272013313 - Michael Mikey Brennan: "Mean Mikey is basically what you get if you mix Bart Simpson and Horrid Henry together" - although primarily based on Brennan himself from when he was younger and who he was at the time (aged 13) in 2012 (when the song was written and recorded) in his childhood - a troublemaker and menace with ADHD and Behaviour Problems. Brennan claims that the earliest influence on the character was Norman Price from Fireman Sam - "Norman Price is pretty much what made me Mean Mikey. This was before I discovered Horrid Henry and Dennis the menace and Bart Simpson, Norman Price was kind of what started it off for me".Michael Mikey Brennan talks about Norman Price's impact on Mean Mikey https://twitter.com/mean_mikey/status/909431867170058240'' '' "Mean Mikey" was originally a full length book written and illustrated by Brennan, inspired by the idea of the 'Horrid Henry' books written by Francesca Simon and 'The Beano' comic books published by DC Thomson. The book was published, but not internationally. Although Brennan claims that it was never published as said in the music video commentary video of 'Mean Mikey' spoken over by Brennan and Croft,"Mean Mikey" (Official Music Video) with commentary by Michael Mikey Brennan and Mr. Croft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P0nG55v5YY Brennan's teacher and form tutor from at the time Patricia "Pat" Whitby confirmed that it was, but not internationally. Whitby's partner Mark Standen was the man who published the book. The song was originally meant to be a promotional song to promote the book. Brennan however, did not want to be known as an author: "I'd much rather be a singer than an author. I love writing stories, but it's more of a hobby whilst music is a passion". However, Brennan and Croft decided to the release the song regardless as they were impressed with their work and the effort that they put into it. Style "Mean Mikey" has been described as Pop, Hip-Hop, Indie (Indie Pop, Indie Hip-Hop), Children's music, and Comedy (Comedy Hip-Hop) - Brennan and Croft confirmed in the 2015 commentary of the music video that the purpose of the song all along was to make people laugh."Mean Mikey" (Official Music Video) with commentary by Michael Mikey Brennan and Mr. Croft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P0nG55v5YY The song was inspired by elements of genres such as Pop, Dance, R&B, Rock, Teen Pop, Hip-Hop, Pop Rock, Grime, Singer-Songwriter, Bubblegum Pop, Comedy, New Jack Swing, Dance-Pop, Children's Music and Funk. Some have also described "Mean Mikey" as parody - a parody of Horrid Henry. It is considered to be a parody song due to its borrowing of other song's lyrics. Some have also considered the song to be Folk Pop due to the fact that the song tells a story. The main inspirations for the song came from artists of Pop and R&B artists such as Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber (hence the lyric, "Listening to Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber all night long"), Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown, and Hip-Hop artists such as Eminem and Tinie Tempah: - "Mr. Croft and I wanted to make a Hip-Hop influenced track appropriate for kids". - Michael Mikey Brennan Music Video The song's music video comprises of a storyboard and slideshow of illustrations designed by Brennan and inspired by the art work of the likes of Tony Ross, Matt Groening, Walt Disney, Quentin Blake, Kazuki Takahashi, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Joe Ruby, Ken Spears, Jeff Kinney, Nick Sharratt, Marc Brown and Stephen Hillenburg. Some of the illustrations were adapted from illustrations Brennan had previously used for the book. Making the music video was Croft's idea after Brennan showed him the illustrations he had made for the book, at first Brennan was against the idea, but he changed his mind when beginning to believe that it could be a great opportunity to showcase his art skills and creativity."Mean Mikey" (Official Music Video) with commentary by Michael Mikey Brennan and Mr. Croft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P0nG55v5YY&spfreload=10 Notable characters and people presented as illustrations (designed by Brennan) in the music video include Bart Simpson, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber,A drawing of Justin Bieber from Michael Mikey Brennan's 'Mean Mikey' music video https://twitter.com/mean_mikey/status/969259315839356929 Horrid Henry and Dennis the Menace (The Beano). Originally the plan for the music video was for it to be animated and the illustrations were to be adapted to animation, however due to school work Brennan and Croft did not have the time to make an animated music video, nor did they have the equipment to pull it off or the money to afford it, so the storyboard/slideshow feature was made instead as a compromise. The video was was produced, edited and put together by Croft and premiered on Brennan's YouTube channelMichael Mikey Brennan - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/michaelmikeybrennan on October, 5th 2012.'Mean Mikey' - Official Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9fGmA2kEQY It also premiered on Brennan's music video YouTube channel - MikeyBVEVO[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoLKcGcwHVDkNpdIFQoEdUg '''MikeyBVEVO] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoLKcGcwHVDkNpdIFQoEdUg (Not associated with VEVO) on December, 2nd 2012.Mean Mikey (on MikeyBVEVO) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYQ4tFAbluM Music videos such as 'Do The Bartman' and Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' inspired the music video. References